The Town Where No One Got Off story
A city slicker impulsively stops at a rural town, and finds himself stalked by a sinister old man. Directed by: Don McBrearty. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
7 total · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| having a preconception challenged | major | Cogswell, a city slicker, held romanticized notions of life in a small town. His illusions were shattered when he visited such a place, only to find its inhabitants cold and unwelcoming. |
| hospitality | major | Contrary to Cogswell's expectations, the townspeople of the unnamed town where he arrived were cold and unwelcoming. Cogswell was somewhat taken aback when, upon arriving at the town, the train station clerk was exceptionally unhelpful when Cogswell asked for help. Other notable incidents included the people at the convenience store being needlessly curt to Cogswell, a shopkeeper hastily closing up shop just as Cogswell approached it, and a lady who seemed to have a room available for rent sending Cogswell away with evident indifference. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | major | In a surprise twist, it turned out that the strange old man had been waiting for about 20 years for just the right moment to set his deranged plan to take a man's life without getting caught into motion. The plan was simple: Wait patiently for a stranger to arrive in town, kill them and throw their body in the river. Nobody would be the wiser, he reasoned. In a double twist, it turned out that the old man's chosen victim purported to have had the same thought himself. |
| pleasure in violence | major | The weird old man had been waiting about 20 years for an opportunity for the pleasure of brutally murdering someone and throwing their body in the river. |
| creative writing | minor | Cogswell claimed that some of his stories were being considered for publication. In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing. |
| mother and daughter | minor | A young girl fetched her mother at Cogswell's request. |
| the nature of creativity | minor | In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it. |